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"An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park for children. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy."

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton was originally published in 1990 when I was just 3 years old. This exhilarating sci-fi novel will leave you grateful that these beasts don't walk among us, but also curious about the future of genetic engineering. It is the first of the series that sparked the dinosaur craze and became Crichtons' signature novel, which quickly turned into a blockbuster movie by Steven Spielberg.

Off the coast of Costa Rica Mr. Hammond has created an amusement park full of prehistoric animals. In his mind it is very safe and secure, these animals are his pets, to say the least. He is giddy with the idea, and can't wait to open it up to the public, mainly kids. To get permission for the park to open he needs to get it approved first, and that's where all our main characters come in. As well as Hammonds two grandchildren. (One of which will drive you crazy. Lex is a 7 year old girl who really doesn't understand the words "be quiet". It's just frustrating but necessary for her to be in the story because she adds to the suspense).

I've always heard of Jurassic Park, even saw a little bit of the movie, but I never cared to read the books. Until I read Michael Crichtons' Timeline, and I liked his style of writing. Quick to the point and with a lot of imagination. My boyfriend kept telling me to read Jurassic Park so I finally bought it and started to read.

Playing with science is dangerous, what seems like harmless research, can lead to devastating results. Babies being eaten by lizards and men mauled by a 'raptor'. All in the name of science, and all the result of one mans' dream to bring joy to children. I guess when they say "back in the day when dinosaurs ruled the world" they're not kidding. Those things will take over and destroy anything that comes in their way.

I guess with todays science and technology anything is possible, and the idea of taking DNA from fossils and than growing dinosaurs in test tubes could be the thing of the future, but it is a little far fetched. But than again this is sci-fi fiction so no need to try to make it real right. As little kids we all wish to see real dinosaurs but a lizard the size of a house trying to eat you never crosses a kids mind.

As far as the characters go, I think they could use a bit more developing, they are well introduced and they all have specific roles in the book. And most of the characters get to tell the story from their perspective. But we don't get to learn much about them as people and their history, other than what is necessary to tell the story of the park. Which is fine as well, it all depends on how well you want to feel connected to them. I thought they were fine they way the were.

The first few chapters really get you hooked and then it dies down a bit, and then once again it picks up speed and keeps you on this roller coaster ride till the end. The action keeps getting interrupted by science talk, and sometimes it just gets annoying. I don't care about chaos theory or the math side of it. I just wanted the story. Not to say that the book was bad, I liked it quite a bit, it just has too much useless information, but that just might be because I'm a girl, and I think this book was intended more for guys, girls enjoy a tiny bit of romance or at least something more than just science. There is plenty of action and teeth grinding moments to fill your adventurous side and keep you reading.

I was instantly drawn to this book, as soon as i read the first sentence I knew I was going to enjoy it. It has a sort of charm to it, being that it's a fairy tale for kids. I wanted to see the movie but I had to read the book first, so I finished it in one day and went to see the movie. I would say this is one of the few books that I read and saw a movie on that didn't ruin either one. I would say I liked the movie just as much as I did the book. Although I didn't know that they were making more than one movie out of such a short book.

The story is told from the point of view of the Hobbit, but I guess you can say the narrator talks more about him than as him. So for those of you that don't know the story of the Hobbit, it's about well a Hobbit, his name is Bilbo Baggins, he lives in a hole, and is deadly afraid of adventures or any type of journey, as all Hobbits are. He prefers his alone time and enjoys good food and all the comforts of living in a cozy hobbit hole. Yet he gets a surprise when Gandalf shows up with some friends and tricks him into hosting a party, and Bilbo being Bilbo gets interested and agrees to an adventure. And that is the end of Bilbos quiet life, he gets to go on a journey that will change his and everyones’ lives.

Of course being a children's tale we have the princes, kings, fairies, trolls, and of course dragons. It's beautifully written, simple enough for kids yet it also satisfies an adult. And It's a quick read too, I read the whole thing in a few hours. It just pulls you in and you have to finish it.

I would highly recommend this book, especially to read to kids as a bedtime story.

"This book is about a group of people who are brought together by their different and equally strange maladies. These people gather to meet in the middle of the Nevada 'high-desert' to try and figure out what was done to them, who could have done it, while at same time being watched by the people who have done this."As excited as I was when I started this book, due to an awesome recommendation (thanks babe), my excitement quickly diminished. The story was a good and unique idea for the time when this book was written, but it lacked interest and suspense. The surprise ending was predictable, the cover of the book is a good place to start, and the author also gives clues within the first few chapters. The moon...the moon...the moon.... I could guess it's something about aliens, because why else would all the characters be interested in the moon, surely they don't care if it's made out of cheese or not. There is too much time devoted to character development and the back story, it seems as if it's leading up to something amazing, but in reality it's boring and a big disappointment, kind of mushy too. Ok I won't be too mean, I did like the beginning, you get to meet all the characters, and the different unexplainable things that happend to them. Your mind wonders, where is this gonna go, who do we meet next, what will they remember. But as the pieces of the puzzle are being revealed you realize that they were never really hidden. That's when I say to myself, what the hell? I already knew that, why am I still reading this? The book would have been better if Koontz devoted a little more time to the ending and a little less time on meaningless events that we could all do without. Every time I put the book down I didn't really want to pick it back up, I could have easily gave up on it, but I stuck to it. I wasn't the most horrible book I have read. But it sure is on the bottom of my list.